Camp Atwater, Perhaps The Oldest Summer Camp For Black Kids, Turns 100
Chaun’cee Smith and Josiah Lopez fish off a dock in Lake Lashaway at Camp Atwater in North Brookville. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
On the shores of Lake Lashaway in central Massachusetts this summer, you’re likely to find kids frolicking in the sun, making pottery, fishing or talking to friends.
It sounds like it could be any summer camp. But this is the Camp Atwater, founded 100 years ago as one of the first — if not the first — summer camps in America specifically for Black kids.
The camp was created at a time when other summer camps were closed to Black children. But many campers and organizers say Atwater is still needed today, a century later.
“There’s not much representation of Black people in Massachusetts,” said Olivia Auston, 16, as she played with a fellow camper on the basketball court. “When you think of different [places], you think ‘Oh, Massachusetts. Full of rich, white people.’ But it’s nice to have somewhere you can go and trust people, and be around your own people.”